INTERVIEW: Jeffrey Clark, Intel – “Being an Olympic Sponsor Gives Us a Platform to Engage In Dialogue Around Esports”

ESL and Intel may be rolling out the largest iteration yet of their annual world esports tournament in Katowice, but just a few weeks prior, the two made history in a different way. The Intel Extreme Masters PyeongChang was structurally no different than any other StarCraft II tournament, yet it was also a precursor for competitive gaming to achieve sports recognition at the highest level.

Taking place just prior to the Winter games, and with the IOC’s blessing, IEM PyeongChang was the closest esports has gotten to being a demonstration sport at an Olympic event. Jeffrey Clark is the director of strategy and planning in the VR, Esports and Gaming Group, a division of Intel’s Client Compute Group. Speaking to The Esports Observer, he says that the company was focused on producing a high quality, world class event, rather than positioning esports in any way.

“One of the advantages we have is being a neutral player across the esports ecosystem. Sort of the Switzerland of the esports industry.”

“We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to use the platform as a way to bring the esports experience, the excitement and energy around it, to a wider, mainstream audience,” he says.

Intel signed on as a worldwide partner with the IOC, in a deal set to run until 2024. Though the partnership focuses on integration of its 5G, virtual reality, and 360 platforms into televised sporting events, the chip maker’s storied history in video games means esports wouldn’t likely stay off the table.

“We’re observing the way people are engaging and interacting with sports. It’s so different nowadays to what it was a decade, or even just a few years ago,” says Clark. “Being a sponsor gives a formal platform to engage in a dialogue around esports, and talk about possibilities for the future.”

Last year, the IOC acknowledged that esports “could be considered as as sporting activity” in a carefully worded statement. Clark notes that Intel had no specific plan ahead of time in terms of brokering esports with the IOC, nor are there any definitive plans for esports to make its way into the games as an official sport to date. However, he notes that the IOC has expressed a lot of interest, and that he saw a lot of excitement around the tournament showcased at PyeongChang.

“Just the energy level was something they were excited by. The online engagement, from the audience and fanbase…It’s a bit of a different dynamic, when you’re streaming a game live and getting that real time feedback from the audience.”

After the event, a few news outlets reported skepticism from top athletes and sporting personel over the idea of mixing StarCraft with skiing, or League of Legends with athletics. Clark acknowledges that perspective, but says that the entertainment value is unmistakable.

“The sport requires discipline, training, and it’s rigorous. The competition is intense, fierce even. We wanted to bring that flavour to a new audience, and help them appreciate that real time strategy is happening here, that requires lightning fast decision making, and incredibly fast reflexes that need to be trained.”

Even without its Olympic nod, IEM PyeongChang will remain a notable pin-point in esports’ history for an entirely different reason. Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn hoisted the competition trophy as the first woman to win a major StarCraft II tournament—an upset victory against two-time world champion Kim “sOs” Yoo Jin.

“I think the fact that Scarlett won is good for the visibility of esports with that broader, mainstream audience including females,” says Clark. He also alludes to the fact she’s from Canada, and is the first North American to steal a StarCraft victory on South Korean soil—where the game was instrumental to Korea’s dominance in several competitive titles, and is still seen as a national sport.

While there are no concrete plans for an esports outing at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Clark says he would like any future event to bring in the live spectator dynamic seen at The International or the League of Legends World Championship—as IEM PyeongChang was closed off to audiences.

On top of its long running partnership through ESL events, Intel is also a multi-year sponsor of the Overwatch League, and even Chinese League of Legends team EDward Gaming. In terms of leveraging these broad relationships to bring an Olympic audience a multi-title tournament, Clark says it’s all about relevance.

“One of the advantages we have at Intel, is being a neutral player across the esports ecosystem. Sort of the Switzerland of the esports industry. We get to work with all the key players, whether it’s the game developers, publishers, or the esports tournament providers, whether it’s ESL or Valve.”

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